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ShowLogo v2.0 for DOS Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 3.0 INSTALLATION 3.0.1 IF YOU DON'T USE WINDOWS 3.0.2 IF YOU DO USE WINDOWS 3.1 ADDING SHOWLOGO TO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE 4.0 USING SHOWLOGO v2.0 FOR DOS 4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS 4.2 HOTKEYS 4.2.1 CREATING CUSTOM HOTKEYS 4.3 MENU OPTIONS 5.0 TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE 6.0 CHANGES SINCE v1.0 7.0 HOW TO CONTACT US 8.0 CUSTOM PROGRAMMING 9.0 TECHNICAL SUPPORT 10.0 OTHER DESERT FROG PRODUCTS 10.1 SHOWLOGO FOR WINDOWS 10.2 DESERT FROG SCREEN SCENES 10.3 NETWORK SUPPORT 11.0 REGISTRATION AND SITE LICENSES 1.0 INTRODUCTION ShowLogo v2.0 for DOS (ShowLogo) is a sophisticated DOS screen saver from Desert Frog Software. Unlike most other DOS screen savers, ShowLogo does more than just blank the screen. ShowLogo displays a scanned or painted image (logo) using the high-resolution VGA video mode (640 by 480 by 16 colors). A new menu system makes ShowLogo easier to control and customize than v1.0. The length of time to delay before popping up can be set to between 1 and 60 minutes. The movement speed of the logo can be set. Your logo or message can be password protected, preventing unauthorized use of your PC. You can leave multi-line messages on the screen or hit the "instant-on" key. ShowLogo looks at the keyboard, mouse and printer to decide when it should pop up. This means that it will not pop up when you are entering data or printing. ShowLogo detects when Microsoft Windows 3.0 or greater is active and avoids popping up. A Windows version of ShowLogo is available. See Section 10.1 for more information. 2.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ShowLogo requires a hard disk and a VGA video card and monitor. ShowLogo pops up over standard VGA video modes, as well as some of the popular non-standard ones. It does not pop up over SVGA video modes. When you are running a Super VGA mode (ex. 800 by 600 by 256-colors), ShowLogo will not save the screen. Expanded memory is recommended but not required. The program works with DOS versions 2.0 to 5.0 and is compatible with Microsoft and Logitech mice. OS/2 is NOT supported (see below for coexistence with unsupported programs). ShowLogo requires 420K of available RAM during installation and removal from memory. ShowLogo also requires about 1 Meg of space on your hard disk or 300K on your hard disk and 800K available EMS memory. ShowLogo occupies less than 7K of RAM when waiting to pop up. 3.0 INSTALLATION ShowLogo is easy to install. If you are not a Microsoft Windows 3.0 or greater user, follow the procedure in section 3.0.1. If you are a Windows user, follow the procedure in section 3.0.2. 3.0.1 IF YOU DON'T USE WINDOWS Copy the files from the distribution disk into a directory on your hard disk. The following set of commands creates a directory called SHOWLOGO on the C: drive and copies the ShowLogo files into this directory from the distribution disk in the A: drive: C: MD SHOWLOGO CD SHOWLOGO COPY A:\*.* The ShowLogo program itself is called SHOWLOGO.EXE. To run it enter the path and file name as shown below (assuming that ShowLogo is installed in a directory called SHOWLOGO on your C: drive): C:\SHOWLOGO\SHOWLOGO Using the full path as shown above guarantees that ShowLogo can find it's files when trying to pop up. 3.0.2 IF YOU DO USE WINDOWS If you are using Windows, we recommend that you use this procedure instead of the one shown in section 3.0.1. Installing ShowLogo v2.0 in the Windows directory will allow it to work properly with both DOS and Windows. The instructions here assume that your Windows directory is on the C: drive: C: CD WINDOWS COPY A:\*.* To run ShowLogo use this command: C:\WINDOWS\SHOWLOGO 3.1 ADDING SHOWLOGO TO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE The best way to use ShowLogo is to add it to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This file is basically a list of commands that are performed each time you turn on your PC. By adding ShowLogo to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you will save yourself from having to run it manually. ShowLogo should be loaded after any network drivers or communication programs or other programs that receive real- time messages. ShowLogo should also be loaded after multitasking software like DesqView or OmniView. Finally, ShowLogo should be loaded before any DOS Shell or menu programs. As an example, assume you have installed ShowLogo in the C:\SHOWLOGO directory. You would then add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: C:\SHOWLOGO\SHOWLOGO Using the full path as shown above guarantees that ShowLogo can find it's files when trying to pop up. The next time you reboot or power up the system, ShowLogo will be automatically loaded and ready to save your screen. 4.0 USING SHOWLOGO v2.0 FOR DOS ShowLogo has a wealth of options, allowing you to customize the program for your system and personal style. When you run the program you can set one or more command line options. Once the program is installed in memory, you can use the menu system or the hotkeys to further control the operation of the program. You can also just run the program without using any of the options. In the vast majority of cases everything will work perfectly without any further effort on your part. 4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS ShowLogo can accept various commands when it is run from the DOS prompt. There are two types of command line options. One type controls how ShowLogo configures itself. This type is entered when ShowLogo is first run and the configurations they set do not change while the program is in memory. The other type commands ShowLogo to do something now. These only work when ShowLogo is already active. The following are command line options. They are entered like this: SHOWLOGO /D /S C:\SHOWLOGO. This set of options tells ShowLogo to always swap to the disk and to put its swap files in the SHOWLOGO directory on the C: drive. The command line options are: /D force disk swapping. Allows you to prevent ShowLogo from using expanded memory. You would want to choose this option if you need to reserve the expanded memory for another program, or if you have an extended memory RAM disk that you would like to use for the ShowLogo swap files. /G go to sleep. Allows the user to prevent ShowLogo from popping up automatically. This is useful to prevent the interruption of activities that use the serial port (like downloading files via modem). Also useful if ShowLogo causes problems when popping up over a particular program. Use this command line option when ShowLogo is already active. /H hexkey specify TSR hotkey in hexadecimal notation. It is possible that one of the programs you use may itself use the default <ALT><.> hotkey for something. If that is the case you will want to change the hotkey which activates ShowLogo to something other than <ALT><.>. This option allows you to do so. Two alternate hotkeys are: <ALT><LeftShift><Z> (enter A2C as the hexkey) and <ALT><TAB> (enter 80F as the hexkey). See section 4.2.1 CREATING CUSTOM HOTKEYS for instructions on creating hotkeys other than those shown above. /M disable swapping messages. ShowLogo normally displays a message when swapping itself to and from the hard disk. If you don't want the message displayed, select this option. /N no mouse detection before popping up. The ShowLogo mouse motion detection routine may conflict with some programs. Use this option to disable the mouse detection in case of conflicts. /S path specify drive and directory for swap files. When swapping itself to the disk, ShowLogo normally puts it's swap files in the C:\ directory. If you want them stored somewhere else, use this option to enter the drive and directory to use. Use this command to change the drive to one that has more space if you see a message like "Swap path invalid or insufficient swap space" when you run SHOWLOGO.EXE. /U unload ShowLogo. Removes ShowLogo from memory. This will not be possible if another TSR program has been loaded after ShowLogo. ShowLogo will provide a message on the screen telling whether or not it was successfully unloaded. Use this command line option when ShowLogo is already active. /W wake up. Reactivates the ShowLogo automatic pop up code. Use this command when the program is asleep and you are ready for it to resume it's automatic function. Use this command line option when ShowLogo is already active. /? show these command line options. Use this command line option when ShowLogo is already active. 4.2 HOTKEYS Hotkeys are commands to ShowLogo that can be used at any time, including while another program is running! Each hotkey is actually a pair of keys depressed simultaneously. Hotkeys are shown like this in the descriptions that follow: <ALT><LSHFT><S> This means to depress the ALT, Left Shift and S keys simultaneously. It is called the Alt-LeftShift-S hotkey. <ALT><LSHFT> Alt-LeftShift-I is the "Instant-on" hotkey. When pressed, this hotkey tells ShowLogo to immediately display a vision. If ShowLogo is swapping to disk it will actually take several seconds for the vision to appear. If ShowLogo is popping up over a graphics-mode program there will be an additional delay while ShowLogo stores the contents of video RAM on the hard disk. The advantage of using this hotkey is that it lets you bypass the menu system if you just want something on the screen right now. Alt-LeftShift-I is not active when the Main Menu is active, a vision is visible on the screen, or for several seconds after one has been deactivated. <ALT><LSHFT><S> Alt-LeftShift-S activates the Main Menu. For details about the use of the Main Menu see section 4.3. Alt-LeftShift-S is not active when the Main Menu is already visible or when a vision is visible on the screen. <ALT><LSHFT><G> Alt-LeftShift-G tells ShowLogo to go to sleep. This hotkey is useful when you don't want ShowLogo to pop up automatically. It prevents the interruption of activities that use the serial port (like downloading files via modem). It is also useful if ShowLogo causes problems when popping up over a particular program. There is an equivalent command line switch that can be used in a batch file (see section 4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS). <ALT><LSHFT><W> Alt-LeftShift-W tells ShowLogo to wake up. This hotkey reactivates the ShowLogo automatic pop up code. Use this command when the program is asleep and you are ready for it to resume it's automatic function. There is an equivalent command line switch that can be used in a batch file (see section 4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS). 4.2.1 CREATING CUSTOM HOTKEYS A hotkey is a combination of a normal key and one of the special keys left shift, right shift, control or alt. These keys are pressed simultaneously and signal ShowLogo for DOS to do something. Hotkeys can be used at any time that ShowLogo for DOS is installed in memory (and you are not running under Windows), regardless of what program is active. This can lead to conflicts between ShowLogo for DOS and the active program when both use a particular key combination. Custom hotkeys can be defined to use in place of the <ALT><LSHFT><S> hotkey normally used by ShowLogo for DOS to pop up the main menu. Two alternate hotkeys are <ALT><LeftShift><Z> and <ALT><TAB>. The hotkey is changed using the /H command line option (see section 4.1 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS for details on using this option). If you want or need to create a custom hotkey different from those shown above, you need to follow the procedure detailed below. This procedure creates a custom hexcode: First, determine which special key you will use. The first character of your new hexcode is determined by the special keys as follows: Special Key Code <LeftShift> 2 <RightShift> 1 <ALT> 8 <CTRL> 4 Second, determine the alphanumeric key you will use. The second and third characters of the new hexcode are determined by the key you choose. The table below shows some normal keys and their codes. Key Code Key Code Key Code <1> 02 <2> 03 <3> 04 <4> 05 <5> 06 <6> 07 <7> 08 <8> 09 <9> 0A <0> 0B <A> 1E 30 <C> 2E <D> 20 <E> 12 <F> 21 <G> 22 <H> 23 17 <J> 24 <K> 25 <L> 26 <M> 32 <N> 31 <O> 18 19 <Q> 10 <R> 13 <S> 1F <T> 14 16 <V> 2F <W> 11 <X> 2D <Y> 15 <Z> 2C Third, combine the codes generated in the first two steps to create a new hexcode. For example, suppose you choose the key combination of <CTRL><N> as your new hotkey. Using the tables above you would determine that the new hexcode to use to make the hotkey <CTRL><N> is 431. Other custom hotkeys are determined similarly. 4.3 MENU OPTIONS The ShowLogo for DOS Main Menu can be activated by pressing <ALT><LSHFT><S> (Alt-LeftShift-S) once ShowLogo is installed. The menu provides information about the program and allows the user to configure the program to his or her taste. The Main Menu is also the place to create a message to leave on the screen. The menu options are: About - Provides information about this version of ShowLogo as well as information about Desert Frog Screen Scenes, another TSR by Desert Frog Software. Exit - Exit the Main Menu. Returns you to the DOS prompt or to whatever program was running when you hit <ALT><LSHFT><S>. Configure - Allows the user to modify the operation of ShowLogo. Sets the number of minutes to delay before popping up, the speed at which the logo moves and enables/disables password protection (see Password below). Press <CTRL><ENTER> when done modifying these parameters. To move the highlight down the list press ENTER, the Down arrow, TAB or Page Down. To move up the list press the Up Arrow, Shift TAB or Page Up. Note that the mouse is not enabled when the configure screen is active. Password - Allows the user to enter a password for use with all the scenes. When password protection is enabled (see Configuration above) and a scene is active, the PC will remain locked with the scene active until the proper password is entered or the PC is turned off or otherwise rebooted. When typing your password, the characters you type will be replaced by asterisks (*) on the screen so that no one can see what you have typed. When finished entering the password, press Control-Enter <CTRL><ENTER>. You will then be asked to reenter the password to confirm it. The password must be 20 characters or less. Your password is encrypted and saved with the other configuration data when you exit the password screen. It is not necessary to enter your password every time you turn on the computer, the password you select remains in force until you enter a new one. NOTE: The default password is SHOWLOGO. Leave a Message - Allows you to leave a message on the screen containing up to 5 lines of 35 characters. Just type your message into the space provided on the message screen. Most editing keys (Arrows, Insert, Delete, etc.) are functional but automatic word-wrap is not provided. Each line of the message is automatically centered. Password protection is active for messages if it has been selected on the configuration screen. 5.0 TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE ShowLogo v2.0 for DOS is a Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) program. MS-DOS was not designed to support TSRs, so there is always a chance of conflicts between the resident program and the normal application running at the time. Try the suggestions listed here if you have a conflict between ShowLogo and another program. Problem: ShowLogo pops up when I am running program X and messes it up. Solution: Use the /G command line option to make ShowLogo go to sleep before running the program and use the /W command line option to wake it up again once you are done. A batch file that implements this fix for a program called ELMER might look like this (if ShowLogo is in the C:\WINDOWS directory): C:\WINDOWS\SHOWLOGO /G ELMER C:\WINDOWS\SHOWLOGO /W Problem: Program X uses the same hotkey as ShowLogo. Solution: Use the /H command line option to set a different primary hotkey for ShowLogo. Problem: ShowLogo won't pop up unless I am logged into the directory it is installed in. Solution: On some systems ShowLogo has trouble determining the full path by itself. First, unload ShowLogo from memory using the /U command line option. Try running it again using the full path name. For example if ShowLogo is stored on the C: drive in a directory called SHOWLOGO, run the program by entering C:\SHOWLOGO\SHOWLOGO. If the program works correctly, you can use the full path name in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as well. Problem: My mouse behaves funny when I run program X with ShowLogo installed. Solution: Use the /N command line option to tell ShowLogo not to check the mouse before popping up. With this option selected, ShowLogo will pop up if all you are using is the mouse, but it will immediately stop execution when you next move the mouse. Problem: ShowLogo pops up when I'm doing very long recalculations with my spreadsheet. Solution: Put ShowLogo to sleep using the <ALT><LSHFT><G> hotkey for very long recalculations. Problem: Program X runs a lot slower than it used to. Solution: Program X was probably using Expanded memory for data or overlay storage and now ShowLogo is using that memory. Run ShowLogo with the /D command line option to force it to use disk space for storing it's overlays instead of using the expanded memory. Problem: I get a message like "Swap path invalid or insufficient swap space" when I try to run ShowLogo. Solution: A message like this means one of two things. The first possibility is that you do not have a C: drive. When ShowLogo needs to store it's swap files, it tries to store them in the C:\ directory. In this case you need to specify another drive using the /S command line option. The second possibility is that your C: drive does not have enough memory to hold the ShowLogo swap files. ShowLogo requires about 1 Meg of hard disk space to hold all it's files. Delete some old files from your hard disk or use the /S command line option to specify a different drive to hold the swap files. Problem: ShowLogo works fine with all my programs except program X, which uses a DOS extender. If it pops up when program X is running, the system crashes. Solution: ShowLogo is incompatible with some DOS extenders, in particular the one from Phar Lap. Either activate this program with a batch file that puts ShowLogo to sleep or manually put it to sleep before activating program X. Problem: When ShowLogo pops up over program X, which is a graphics mode program, the screen doesn't get restored properly after ShowLogo is done. Solution: ShowLogo needs up to 195K of hard disk space to store the contents of the video card's memory when popping up over graphics mode programs. If there isn't enough hard disk space to store this information, the screen will not be restored properly. Provide some additional space on the hard disk for ShowLogo to store this information. It is also possible that program X is using a non-standard video mode which ShowLogo does not recognize. Try running program X in a different video mode or put ShowLogo to sleep when running program X. Problem: I can't get ShowLogo to run on my machine, but SideKick works fine. Solution: SideKick can cause problems for other TSRs. ShowLogo tries to neutralize the problems but is not always able to do so. When it cannot, it won't load after SideKick. To resolve this problem you can try loading ShowLogo into memory before SideKick. This may work fine. ShowLogo should work just fine with SideKickPlus. 6.0 CHANGES SINCE v1.0 o Switched to 640 by 480 by 16 color mode for easier scanning and better quality display o Improved menu system o Pops up over more programs o Password protection while logo is displayed o Registered users receive printed manual and latest version o Automatic detection of Microsoft Windows 3.0 or greater o Automatic interface to ShowLogo for Windows o Improved support for CGA graphics programs 7.0 HOW TO CONTACT US There are three good ways to contact Desert Frog Software. They are: Phone: (602) 843-0183 U.S. Mail: Desert Frog Software P.O. Box 10413 Glendale, AZ 85318-0413 CompuServe: 70641,1102 Address your technical questions to Bill Mann and pricing questions to Patti Mann. 8.0 CUSTOM PROGRAMMING Desert Frog Software provides custom programming services. We specialize in graphically-oriented applications for DOS and Windows and provide a high-quality scanning service. Custom versions of this program are also available. To discuss your project contact Bill Mann at (602) 843-0183 evenings or weekends. We are located in Arizona, which is always on Mountain Standard Time. Our time is two or three hours earlier than on the East Coast and the same time as, or one hour later than, the West Coast, depending on time of year. 9.0 TECHNICAL SUPPORT Desert Frog Software provides free technical support to users of our products. Please see section 7.0 HOW TO CONTACT US. 10.0 OTHER DESERT FROG PRODUCTS Desert Frog Software has produced some other screen saver programs you may be interested in. Our goal is to provide both the home and business user with screen saving coverage across DOS and Windows. To that end we have created a Microsoft Windows version of ShowLogo, as well as DOS and Windows versions of Desert Frog Screen Scenes, our fun- oriented screen saver. Future versions of Screen Scenes will share information between the DOS and Windows versions, allowing you to set things up for both DOS and Windows simultaneously. ShowLogo v2.0 already has that capability. 10.1 SHOWLOGO FOR WINDOWS ShowLogo for Windows provides all the same capabilities as ShowLogo for DOS. Both versions share configuration files so the settings you make in DOS carry across to Windows and vice versa. Please contact Desert Frog Software directly for more information. 10.2 DESERT FROG SCREEN SCENES Desert Frog Screen Scenes (Screen Scenes) provides 29 (16 if you don't have a VGA system) different scenes for your enjoyment. The wide range of scenes includes a kaleidoscope, an aquarium full of Crazy Fish, the long- awaited hopping frog scene and a set of wild 256-color palette-animated fractals! 10.3 NETWORK SUPPORT We plan to introduce network versions of ShowLogo and Desert Frog Screen Scenes sometime early in 1993. If you are interested in a network version of either of these products please contact us (see section 7.0 HOW TO CONTACT US) and we will put you on a list to receive an evaluation copy as soon as they are available. 11.0 REGISTRATION AND SITE LICENSING If you use ShowLogo, please register it. Registered users receive the latest version of the product (without the Please Register screen of course), a printed manual and notification of future updates. To register ShowLogo v2.0 for DOS please fill out the form below. When sending an image to scan please indicate the area of the image to be scanned and the approximate size you would like it to be when on the screen. Site licenses are available. Contact Bill or Patti Mann for further information. REGISTRATION FORM Name ___________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________ City ____________________________ State ________________ Zip Code ______________ Telephone Number __________________ Specify Disk Format: [ ] 3.5" [ ] 5.25" Shipping/Handling Quantity Price US Non-US Total ____ ShowLogo v2.0 for DOS $20.00 $3.00 $5.00 _____ ____ ShowLogo v2.0 Windows $20.00 $3.00 $5.00 _____ ____ Both DOS and Windows versions $35.00 $3.00 $5.00 _____ ____ Scanned logo $25.00 N/A N/A _____ Subtotal _____ Arizona residents please add sales tax _____ Total _____ Send your order to: Desert Frog Software P.O. Box 10413 Glendale, AZ 85318-0413 All checks/money orders must be in US funds drawn on a US bank. Scanning prices are subject to change without notice. Site Licenses for ShowLogo are available. Contact Bill or Patti Mann for pricing and details.